Most of these come from the Western tradition, so they carry a Western accent even when they turn up elsewhere. Where a term means something different in another system, it says so. This is the same glossary that powers the tappable definitions inside your readings.
- SignCross-system
- One of twelve 30° slices of the zodiac a body sits in (Aries through Pisces).Western uses tropical signs (pinned to the seasons); Vedic uses sidereal (pinned to the stars) — which is why your Vedic Sun can land a sign earlier. Calculated, not interpreted.
- HouseCross-system
- One of twelve life-domains laid over the chart — self, money, home, career, and so on.Where the houses begin depends on the house system AND your exact birth time. No birth time, no houses — the Engine withholds them rather than guess.
- AscendantRising signCross-system
- The zodiac degree climbing over the eastern horizon at your birth moment — the start of the 1st house.Moves about 1° every 4 minutes, so it needs an exact birth time. This is the first thing that vanishes when the time is unknown.
- AspectWestern term
- An angular relationship between two bodies — how many degrees apart they are, and whether that angle is considered meaningful.The classic angles: 0, 60, 90, 120, 180. Vedic aspects work by whole signs and different rules — this is a Western term.
- ConjunctionWestern term
- Two bodies at roughly the same degree (0° apart). They blend and amplify each other — for better or worse.
- SquareWestern term
- Two bodies about 90° apart. Friction — the productive kind of problem that makes you do something.
- TrineWestern term
- Two bodies about 120° apart. Ease and flow — talent that comes cheap, sometimes too cheap to bother using.
- OppositionWestern term
- Two bodies about 180° apart. A tug-of-war across the chart; you meet the theme through other people.
- OrbWestern term
- How far from exact an aspect can be and still count. A square with a 2° orb means 88°–92°.Tighter orb = stronger aspect. The Engine reports the exact degree; the orb is where interpretation begins.
- TransitCross-system
- Where a planet is in the sky right now (or on a date you choose) versus where it sat at your birth. The engine of timing.Calculated for the real apparent positions — no birth time needed for the transiting planets themselves, though houses still need your natal time.
- StelliumWestern term
- Three or more bodies clustered in one sign or house — a concentration of weight in that part of the chart.
- RetrogradeCross-system
- When a planet appears to move backwards from Earth's vantage point.It's an optical effect of orbits, not a planet actually reversing. The Engine computes the true apparent motion — nothing mystical in the math.
- NodeLunar nodes (North & South)Cross-system
- The two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's path — always exactly opposite each other.Calculated points, not bodies. Western and Vedic both use them but read them differently.
- ElementWestern term
- Fire, Earth, Air, Water — the four temperaments the signs sort into. Roughly, Fire drives, Earth builds, Air thinks, Water feels.The Chinese five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) are a different set that happen to share the name.
- ModalityQualityWestern term
- Cardinal, Fixed, or Mutable — whether a sign starts things, holds them steady, or adapts.
- SectWestern term
- Whether you were born in daytime or nighttime hours, which shifts how some planets are weighed.An ancient distinction the Engine reads straight from your birth time.
- MidheavenMCWestern term
- The highest point of the chart — public life, career, reputation, what you're known for.Needs an exact birth time, like the Ascendant.
- ProfectionWestern term
- A yearly timing method: each birthday hands the year to the next house, spotlighting a new theme.Calculated — it's how a given year gets its subject.
- Solar returnWestern term
- The chart cast for the exact moment the Sun returns to its birth position each year — a 'chart of your year.'
- NakshatraVedic term
- One of 27 lunar mansions the Moon moves through — older than the twelve signs, and central to Vedic meaning and timing.
- DashaVedic term
- A planetary period, sometimes years long, that colors a whole chapter of life. Vedic's signature timing engine.
- Day MasterBaZi term
- The day-pillar stem that stands for you — the reference point every other pillar is read against.
- Luck PillarBaZi term
- A ten-year elemental season layered over the birth chart — the weather that moves through a life.
- PalaceZi Wei term
- One of twelve life-domains — career, wealth, marriage, health, and the rest — that the stars get distributed across.
- TypeHuman Design
- One of four (Generator, Projector, Manifestor, Reflector) — the top-level label for how your energy is designed to work.
- Gate / ChannelHuman Design
- The I-Ching-numbered points (gates) and the wires between them (channels) that define your body-graph.
- Life Path numberNumerology
- The single digit distilled from your birth date — numerology's headline number.
- ArcanaTarot
- The two halves of the tarot deck: 22 Major (the big themes) and 56 Minor (the daily texture).